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Page 279(Chronicles of Froissart)

page 279

earl called to him sir Daniel of Halewyn and said: `Sir, I will ye go to Oudenarde and be sovereign captain there, and take with you a hundred and fifty spears, a hundred cross-bows, and two hundred other varlets with spears and pavises ; and take ye heed to that garrison, I give you the charge thereof, and new victual it with corn, wheat and oats and salt flesh and with wine out from our friends and neighbours of Tournay : they will not fail us at this need.' `Sir,' quoth the knight, `all this shall be done : and, sir, I shall take as good heed to the town as I can, sith it please you that I shall do so; there shall none evil come thereto by my fault.' `Daniel,' quoth the earl, 'of that I am sure.' And so the knight took leave of the earl and went to Oudenarde, and there refreshed the town with new men of war, victual and other things necessary. When Philip d'Arteveld being in Gaunt understood the tidings bow they of Oudenarde were refreshed with new men, then he said he would provide for remedy, saying how it was not to be suffered, for it was greatly to the prejudice and dishonour of the country of Flanders that this town held so against them : wherefore he said he would go and lay siege thereto, and not to depart thence till he had beaten it down and put to death all those that were within, knights and other. Then he sent his commandment through the country of Flanders that every man should be ready the ninth day of June to be with him before Oudenarde. There was none that durst disobey his commandment, so the men of all the good towns in Flanders and they of the Franc of Bruges made them ready and came and laid siege before Oudenarde, and lay abroad in the fields in meadows and in marshes and thereabout. And there was Philip d'Arteveld their captain, by whom they were all ordered, who held a great estate before Oudenarde. Then he reared a taillage in Flanders, every fire every week to pay four groats, the rich to bear out the feeble, whereby he gat together much money, for there was none excused, but all paid. For he had servants for the nonce through all the country, who made every man to pay, poor and rich, whether they would or not. It was said be had at the siege more than a hundred thousand men, and the Flemings had piled in the river of l'Escault great piles of great timber, so that no ship could come from Tournay to Oudenarde ; and they had in their host all things plentiful, market with cloth, furs and other mercery ; and every Saturday they had a market, and all the villages thereabout brought thither fruits, butter, milk, cheese, pullen and other things ; and they had taverns as plenteous with wine as though they had been in Brussels, both Rhenish wine, wine of Poitou and of France, malvoisies and other wines of strange countries, and good cheap. Every man might go and come, pass and repass, without any peril, they of Hainault, of Brabant, of Almaine and of Liege, but none out of France.

CHAPTER CCCCIV

How the Gauntois assailed the town of Oudenarde divers times, and how they ran before Lille and in the country about on the realm of France.

SUMMARY.-The siege of Oudenarde was carried on all the summer, and the Gauntois used great engines and guns but could not take the town. A body of Gauntois overran all the country des!roying gentlemen's houses, and burnt also some villages in France, upon which the duke of Burgundy wrote to the king and the duke of Berry to find some remedy. The earl of Flanders visited the duke of Burgundy at Bapaume and obtained a promise of aid.

CHAPTER CCCCV

Of the request that the duke of Burgoyne made to the French king, and why the king took on him to bear the flying hart.

THE duke of Burgoyne forgat not the covenant he made with his father-inlaw the earl of Flanders, and so he departed from the town of Bapaume and with him sir Guy of Tremouille and sir John of Vienne, who was admiral of France, who did all his pain to comfort the earl, and they two were chief of council